Reference signal indication method, network device and terminal device

ABSTRACT

A reference signal indication method, a network device and a terminal device are provided. The method includes: configuring a target reference signal pattern to be used for a terminal device in later transmission occasions, wherein the target reference signal pattern is a reference signal pattern selected from multiple predefined reference signal patterns; and not transmitting reference signal indication information to the terminal device, in a case that the target reference signal pattern is a default reference signal pattern; or not transmitting the reference signal indication information to the terminal device, in a case that the target reference signal pattern is the same as a reference signal pattern indicated by a previous piece of reference signal indication information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a U.S. national phase application of a PCTApplication No. PCT/CN2017/119817 filed on Dec. 29, 2017, which claims apriority of a Chinese patent application No. 201710008003.3 filed inChina on Jan. 5, 2017, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein inits entirety by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a field of communication technology,and in particular, relates to a reference signal indication method, anetwork device and a terminal device.

BACKGROUND

In a conventional Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a reference signalis used for channel estimation and channel measurement of a trafficchannel and a control channel. In a forthcoming fifth generation (5G)mobile communication system, a reference signal pattern may dynamicallybe changed with scene requirements such as different services, numericalconfigurations, De-modulation Reference Signal (DMRS) functions, andneeds to be indicated through specific control information. However, thereference signal pattern may be changed dynamically and frequently,causing significant signaling indication overheads and thus loweringservice transmission rates. For example, the DMRS is mainly used fordemodulation of the traffic channel and the control channel. Throughdesigning a fixed DMRS pattern both in a time domain and in a frequencydomain, a DMRS pattern may be used for the channel estimation of asystem. The DMRS pattern is related to a transmission mode. DMRSpatterns corresponding to different transmission modes may be different.Therefore, the DMRS pattern does not need to be indicated by additionalhigh-layer Radio Resource Control (RRC) signalings and/or physical-layerDownlink Control Indicator (DCI) information.

In the forthcoming 5G mobile communication system, the DMRS may be usedfor not only the demodulation of the traffic channel and the controlchannel but also be used for the channel measurement. The DMRS patternmay be dynamically changed with the scene requirements such as thedifferent services, the numerical configurations, the DMRS functions.Therefore, the DMRS pattern needs to be indicated through the specificcontrol information. Additionally, since in the forthcoming 5G mobilecommunication system, the DMRS pattern may be changed dynamically andfrequently, the significant signaling indication overheads may bebrought out, thus causing the service transmission rate to be lowered.

SUMMARY

A reference signal indication method, a network device and a terminaldevice are provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, so asto address technical problems that a bit overhead for the system islarge and a service transmission rate is low due to a dynamic change ofreference signal patterns in the related art.

In a first aspect, a reference signal indication method applied to anetwork device is provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure.The method includes: configuring a target reference signal pattern to beused for a terminal device in later transmission occasions, wherein thetarget reference signal pattern is a reference signal pattern selectedfrom multiple predefined reference signal patterns; and not transmittingreference signal indication information to the terminal device, in acase that the target reference signal pattern is a default referencesignal pattern; or not transmitting the reference signal indicationinformation to the terminal device, in a case that the target referencesignal pattern is the same as a reference signal pattern indicated by aprevious piece of reference signal indication information.

In a second aspect, a reference signal indication method applied to aterminal device is provided in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The method includes: receiving reference signal indicationinformation transmitted by a network device, wherein, the referencesignal indication information is used to indicate a target referencesignal pattern to be used in later transmission occasions, and thetarget reference signal pattern is a reference signal pattern selectedfrom multiple predefined reference signal patterns; and in a case thatthe reference signal indication information is not received, determiningthe target reference signal pattern to be a default reference signalpattern, and transmitting corresponding reference signals intransmission resources corresponding to the default reference signalpattern; or in a case that the reference signal indication informationis not received, determining the target reference signal pattern to be areference signal pattern indicated by a previous piece of referencesignal indication information received by the terminal device, andtransmitting corresponding reference signals in transmission resourcescorresponding to the reference signal pattern indicated by the previouspiece of reference signal indication information received by theterminal device.

A third aspect, a network device is provided in the embodiments of thepresent disclosure, and includes: a configuration module, configured toselect a target reference signal pattern to be used for a terminaldevice in later transmission occasions, wherein the target referencesignal pattern is a reference signal pattern selected from multiplepredefined reference signal patterns; a first processing module,configured to not transmit reference signal indication information tothe terminal device in a case that the target reference signal patternis a default reference signal pattern; or a second processing module,configured to not transmit the reference signal indication informationto the terminal device in a case that the target reference signalpattern is the same as a reference signal pattern indicated by aprevious piece of reference signal indication information.

In a fourth aspect, a terminal device is provided in the embodiments ofthe present disclosure, and includes: a reception module, configured toreceive reference signal indication information transmitted by a networkdevice, wherein, the reference signal indication information is used toindicate a target reference signal pattern to be used in latertransmission occasions, and the target reference signal pattern is areference signal pattern selected from multiple predefined referencesignal patterns; a third processing module, configured to, in a casethat the reference signal indication information is not received,determine the target reference signal pattern to be a default referencesignal pattern, and transmit corresponding reference signals intransmission resources corresponding to the default reference signalpattern; or a fourth processing module, configured to, in a case thatthe reference signal indication information is not received, determinethe target reference signal pattern to be a reference signal patternindicated by a previous piece of reference signal indication informationreceived by the terminal device, and transmit corresponding referencesignals in transmission resources corresponding to the reference signalpattern indicated by the previous piece of reference signal indicationinformation received by the terminal device.

In a fifth aspect, a network device is provided in the embodiments ofthe present disclosure, and includes: a storage, a processor, andcomputer programs stored on the storage and executable on the processor,wherein, when the processor executes the computer programs, theprocessor implements steps of the reference signal indication methodaccording to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

In a sixth aspect, a terminal device is provided in the embodiments ofthe present disclosure, and includes: a storage, a processor, andcomputer programs stored on the storage and executable on the processor,wherein, when the processor executes the computer programs, theprocessor implements steps of the reference signal indication methodaccording to the second aspect of the present disclosure.

In a seventh aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided inthe embodiments of the present disclosure and includes computer programsstored on the computer readable storage medium, wherein when thecomputer programs are executed by a processor, the processor implementssteps of the reference signal indication method of the presentdisclosure.

In this way, beneficial effects of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure are as follow. The network device does not transmit thereference signal indication information in case of using the defaultreference signal pattern or using the same reference signal pattern asthat used in the previous transmission occasions in the latertransmission occasions, so that the transmission times of systeminformation are reduced under a premise that a reference signal patternis accurately indicated, thereby reducing a bit overhead for the systeminformation and increasing a service transmission rate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate technical solutions of embodimentsof the present disclosure, drawings used in description of theembodiments of the present disclosure will be briefly discussedhereinafter. Obviously, following figures in the description only relateto some of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and one skilled inthe art may derive other figures based on these figures without payingany creative labor.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a reference signal indication method in someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a reference signal indication method in someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of modules of a network devicein some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a structural schematic diagram of modules of the networkdevice in some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a structural block diagram of a network device in someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a reference signal indication method in someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a reference signal indication method in someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of modules of a terminal device in someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of modules of the terminal device in someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a terminal device in some embodiments ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a terminal device in some embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described indetails hereinafter in conjunction with drawings. Although the exemplaryembodiments are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that theembodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in variousways, and the present disclosure is not limited by the embodimentsdescribed herein. On the contrary, these embodiments of the presentdisclosure are provided for sake of understanding the present disclosuremore thoroughly, and conveying the scope of the present disclosure toone of ordinary skills in the art completely.

In some optional embodiments, a reference signal indication method at anetwork device side may be described briefly in this embodiment incombination with the drawings. Specifically, referring to FIG. 1, someembodiments of the present disclosure provide a reference signalindication method. The reference signal indication method includesfollowing steps 11-13.

Step 11: configuring a target reference signal pattern to be used for aterminal device in later transmission occasions.

In the forthcoming fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication system, inorder to satisfy the scene requirements such as different numericalconfigurations and dynamically-changed reference signal functions,reference signal patterns may be changed dynamically. Thus, in a scenehaving the same number of flows and the same beamforming, differentreference signal patterns may also be designed. The target referencesignal pattern to be used in the later transmission occasions is oneselected from multiple different predefined reference signal patterns.

Step 12: not transmitting reference signal indication information to theterminal device, in a case that the target reference signal pattern is adefault reference signal pattern.

In order to reduce transmission times of the reference signal indicationinformation, the network device does not transmit the reference signalindication information to the terminal device in case of using thedefault reference signal pattern. That is, in order to reduce indicationoverheads brought due to dynamic changes of the reference signalpattern, the default reference signal pattern needs to be defined. Incase of indication, the system uses the default reference signal patternto receive or transmit signals. The above step 12 is a way for reducingthe transmission times of the reference signal indication information.Another way for reducing the transmission times of the reference signalindication information is introduced below.

Step 13: not transmitting the reference signal indication information tothe terminal device, in a case that the target reference signal patternis the same as a reference signal pattern indicated by a previous pieceof reference signal indication information.

In order to reduce the transmission times of the reference signalindication information, the network device does not transmit thereference signal indication information to the terminal device in a casethat the reference signal pattern is not changed. That is, the targetreference signal pattern is the same as a most recent reference signalpattern, until new indication information for indicating a change ofreference signal patterns is received. In an example of using a mostrecent DMRS pattern, if the terminal device uses a k-th DMRS pattern toreceive or transmit signals at a time t0 and the terminal device doesnot receive any information for indicating the change of the DMRSpattern between a time t0+1 and a time t0+p, then a User Equipment (UE)may receive and transmit signals using the k-th DMRS pattern from t0+1to t0+p, until the indication information for indicating the change ofthe DMRS pattern is received at t0+p+1, and UE stops using the k-th DMRSpattern.

The network device in the embodiments of the present disclosure does nottransmit the reference signal indication information in case of usingthe default reference signal pattern or using the same reference signalpattern as that used in the previous transmission occasions in the latertransmission occasions, so that the transmission times of systeminformation is reduced under a premise that a reference signal patternis accurately indicated, thereby reducing a bit overhead for the systeminformation and increasing a service transmission rate.

A brief introduction is made to the reference signal indication methodof the present disclosure through some embodiments. The reference signalindication method is further described hereinafter in combinationaccompanying drawings and specific application scenarios.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the reference signal indication methodprovided in some embodiments of the present disclosure specificallyincludes following steps 21-25.

Step 21: configuring a target reference signal pattern to be used for aterminal device in later transmission occasions.

The target reference signal pattern to be used in the later transmissionoccasions is one selected from multiple different reference signalpatterns.

The target reference signal pattern may be a Demodulation ReferenceSignal Pattern (DMRS pattern), a Channel-State-Information ReferenceSignal pilot pattern (CSI-RS pattern), a Phase Tracking Reference Signalpattern (PTRS pattern), or a Sounding Reference Signal pattern (SRSpattern). Reference signals may be divided into downlink referencesignals and uplink reference signals. Correspondingly, the referencesignal patterns may be grouped into downlink reference signal patternsand uplink reference signal patterns. The downlink reference signalpatterns include the DMRS pattern, the CSI-RS pattern and the PTRSpattern; the uplink reference signal pattern includes the DMRS pattern,the SRS pattern and the PTRS pattern. Further, in a case that thenetwork device successfully configures the target reference signalpattern to be used in the later transmission occasions, a transmissionof the reference signal is performed by using transmission resourcescorresponding to the target reference signal pattern. The transmissionabove includes downlink transmission and uplink transmission.Specifically, in a case that the reference signal pattern is thedownlink reference signal pattern, the network device performstransmission of the downlink reference signal by using transmissionresources corresponding to the downlink reference signal pattern; in acase that the reference signal pattern is the uplink reference signalpattern, the terminal device performs transmission of the uplinkreference signal by using transmission resources corresponding to theuplink reference signal pattern. The embodiment is illustrated by way ofthe DMRS pattern.

Step 22: not transmitting the reference signal indication information tothe terminal device, in a case that the target reference signal patternis the default reference signal pattern.

In order to reduce the transmission times of the reference signalindication information, the network device does not transmit thereference signal indication information to the terminal device in caseof using the default reference signal pattern. That is, in order toreduce an overhead of a high-layer Radio Resource Control (RRC)signaling, a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) and/orphysical-layer Downlink Control Indicator (DCI) information caused bythe dynamic change of the DMRS pattern, the default DMRS pattern needsto be defined. In a case that the high-layer RRC signaling, the MAC CEand/or the physical-layer DCI information does not exist, the systemuses the default DMRS pattern for transmitting or receiving signals.

Step 23: not transmitting the reference signal indication information tothe terminal device, in a case that the target reference signal patternis the same as a reference signal pattern indicated by the previouspiece of reference signal indication information.

In order to reduce the transmission times of the reference signalindication information, the network device does not transmit thereference signal indication information to the terminal device in a casethat the target reference signal pattern is the same as the referencesignal pattern indicated by the previous piece of reference signalindication information, i.e., in a case that the target reference signalpattern is the same as the reference signal pattern used in a currenttransmission occasions, in other words, in a case that the referencesignal (such as the DMRS) pattern is not changed. That is, in order toreduce the overhead of the high-layer Radio Resource Control (RRC)signaling, the Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) and/orthe physical-layer Downlink Control Indicator (DCI) information causedby the dynamic change of the DMRS pattern, the system uses the mostrecent DMRS pattern for transmitting or receiving signals in a case thatthe high-layer RRC signaling, the MAC CE and/or the physical-layer DCIinformation does not exist, until a new high-layer RRC signaling, a newMAC CE and/or a new physical-layer DCI for indicating the change of theDMRS pattern is received. If the terminal device uses the k-th DMRSpattern to receive or transmit signals at a time t0, and the terminaldevice does not receive any one of the high-layer RRC signaling, the MACCE or the physical-layer DCI information for indicating the change ofthe DMRS-pattern between time t0+1 and time t0+p, then the UE mayreceive and transmit signals using the k-th DMRS pattern from the timet0+1 to the time t0+p, until a new indication for indicating the changeof the DMRS-pattern is received at time t0+p+1, and the UE stops usingthe k-th DMRS pattern.

Step 24: in a case that the target reference signal pattern satisfies apredefined condition, determining the reference signal indicationinformation used for indicating the target reference signal pattern.

The predefined condition herein is a condition for transmitting thereference signal indication information. The predefined conditioncorresponds to a condition for not transmitting the reference signalindication information. The predefined condition is a condition thatreference signal patterns other than the default reference signalpattern is to be used; or a condition that a reference signal patterndifferent from the reference signal pattern indicated by the previouspiece of reference signal indication information is to be used. That is,in a case that the condition for not transmitting the reference signalindication information is a condition that the default reference signalpattern is used, the condition for transmitting the reference signalindication information is a condition that patterns other than thedefault reference signal pattern is used; or in a case that thecondition for not transmitting the reference signal indicationinformation is a condition that a reference signal pattern to be used isthe same as the reference signal pattern used in the previoustransmission occasions, the condition for transmitting the referencesignal indication information is a condition that a reference signalpattern to be used is different from the reference signal pattern usedin the previous transmission occasions.

Further, different DMRS patterns may correspond to different referencesignal indication information; or different dynamic changes of the DMRSpatterns correspond to different pieces of reference signal indicationinformation. For example, a specific bit value in the reference signalindication information represents one of all DMRS patterns.Specifically, the reference signal indication information includes Nbits, wherein 2^(N) is smaller than or equal to the number of the allreference signal patterns, and N is a positive integer. In a case thatthe 2^(N) is equal to the number of the all DMRS patterns, differentvalues of the N bits represent different DMRS patterns. Further, forsake of reducing an overhead of bits in the reference signal indicationinformation and saving transmission resources for the system, followingmanners may be used for the reference signal indication information toindicate the DMRS patterns.

A first manner: a first value represented by the N bits is used forindicating that the target reference signal pattern is a K-th referencesignal pattern used in previous M transmission occasions, wherein the Kis smaller than or equal to 2^(N); a second value represented by the Nbits is used for indicating that the target reference signal pattern isnot any of reference signal patterns used in the previous M transmissionoccasions.

The M transmission occasions is a window along a time axis, the windowis dynamically changed with time elapsing. Furthermore, a configurationof the M is related to a value of the N. Generally, the larger the N is,the larger the M is. That is, the more the number of indication bits inthe reference signal indication information is, types of patternscapable of being indicated are more, and the wider the window capable ofbeing indicated is. Specific N bits exist in the reference signalindication information (the 2^(N) is smaller than the number of the allreference signal patterns, i.e., N is smaller than the number of bitsneeded for indicating all DMRS patterns). A first value represented bythe N bits represents a K-th DMRS pattern used in one of the previous Mtransmission occasions closest to or farthest away from a currenttransmission occasion, wherein the K is smaller than or equal to 2^(N),a second value represented by the N bits represents any of the DMRSpatterns used in previous transmission occasions is not used. Forexample, there are 16 DMRS patterns in all; if the reference signalindication information is directly used to indicate the patterns, fourbits are need; in order to save the bit overhead of the system, threebits may be used, wherein seven values (such as 001-111) of all valuesrepresented by the three bits represent a first to a seventh DRMSpatterns in previous seven transmission occasions are used respectively,a remaining value (such as 000) of the all values represented by thethree bits represents any of the reference signal patterns used in theprevious transmission occasions is not used. In this way, in a case thatthe seventh DMRS pattern used in previous transmission occasions isdetermined to be used in later transmission occasions, the networkdevice determines that a value of the three bits in the reference signalindication information is correspondingly to be 111. If DMRS patternsused previously are used consistently, the above manner may becontinuously used until any of the DMRS patterns used previously is notused any longer, the value of the three bits in the reference signalindication information is determined to be 000. Further, after any ofthe DMRS patterns used previously is determined to not be used anylonger, a new DMRS pattern to be used may be indicated through other bitinformation. Thus, although any of the DMRS patterns used previously isnot used any longer and more bits are needed to indicate the new DMRSpattern, an occurrence probability of this scene is relatively low sincethe M transmission occasions are continuously updated dynamically. Evenif this scene occurs occasionally, significant bit overhead may not begenerated. Therefore, indicating reference signal patterns in this waymay reduce the bit overhead of system information to some extent andincrease the service transmission rate. It should be noted that, aposition of a field in which additional bits used for indicating the newreference signal (such as the DMRS) pattern is located is different froma position of a field in which the N bits used for indicating thedynamic change of the reference signal (such as the DMRS) patterns islocated; or bearing information corresponding to the additional bitsused for indicating the new reference signal (such as the DMRS) patternis different from bearing information corresponding to the N bits usedfor indicating the dynamic change of the reference signal (such as theDMRS) patterns.

A second way: the reference signal indication information includes Pbits. A value of the P bits is used to any one of 2^(P) differentreference signal patterns.

That is, specific P bits (wherein 2^(P) is equal to the number of allreference signal patterns, P is equal to the number of bits needed forindicating the all DMRS patterns) in the reference signal indicationinformation. Although the number of bits needed for this manner is thesame as the number of bits in indication information in the related art,transmission times for the indication information are reduced in thepresent disclosure, and thus may save the bit overhead of the system tosome extent.

Step 25: transmitting the reference signal indication information to theterminal device.

Since the network device may select a reference signal patterncorresponding to a service transmission scenario, the reference signalindication information capable of indicating a reference signal patternto be used in later transmission occasions needs to be transmitted tothe terminal device, so that the terminal device may obtain thereference signal pattern to be used in the later transmission occasionsbased on the reference signal indication information.

Step 25 specifically includes: transmitting the reference signalindication information to the terminal device by incorporating thereference signal indication information in the high-layer RRC signaling,the MAC CE or the physical-layer downlink control indicator (DCI)information.

That is to say, a change of DMRS patterns may be informed to theterminal device through the high-layer RRC signaling, the MAC CE and/orthe physical-layer DCI information, i.e. N bits are added or specifiedin the high-layer RRC signaling, the MAC CE or the physical-layer DCIinformation to indicate the DMRS pattern to be used.

The network device provided in the embodiments of the present disclosureenables the terminal device to obtain the reference signal pattern to beused in the later transmission occasions, through transmitting thereference signal indication information used for indicating thereference signal pattern to be used in the later transmission occasions,so that the dynamic change of the reference signal patterns may beobtained accurately and therefore channel detection and channelmeasurement may be performed accurately and a service transmissionperformance may be ensured. Further, N bits are used in the referencesignal indication information to indicated a K-th reference signalpattern used in previous transmission occasions, or any of the referencesignal patterns used in the previous transmission occasions is not used;or M bits are used to indicate the reference signal pattern to be used,so as to reduce the bit overhead of the system information and increasethe service transmission rate.

The reference signal indication method of the present disclosure isintroduced above based on different scenarios through some embodiments.A network device corresponding to the reference signal indication methodis further described hereinafter in combination the accompanyingdrawings and embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 3, the network device 300 in the embodiments of thepresent disclosure may: configure the target reference signal pattern tobe used in the later transmission occasions for the terminal device; ina case that the target reference signal pattern is the default referencesignal pattern, not transmit the reference signal indication informationto the terminal device; or in a case that the target reference signalpattern is the same as the reference signal pattern indicated by theprevious piece of reference signal indication information, not transmitthe reference signal indication information to the terminal device. Thenetwork device may implement details of the above reference signalindication method, and may achieve same technical effects. The targetreference signal pattern is one selected from a plurality of predefinedreference signal patterns. The network device 300 specifically includesfollowing modules: a configuration module 310 configured to select atarget reference signal pattern to be used for the terminal device inlater transmission occasions, wherein the target reference signalpattern is one selected from the plurality of predefined referencesignal patterns; a first processing module 320, configured to nottransmit the reference signal indication information to the terminaldevice in a case that the target reference signal pattern is a defaultreference signal pattern; or a second processing module 330, configuredto not transmit the reference signal indication information to theterminal device in a case that the target reference signal pattern isthe same as a reference signal pattern indicated by a previous piece ofreference signal indication information.

As shown in FIG. 4, the network device 300 further includes a firstdetermination module 340, configured to determine the reference signalindication information used to indicate the target reference signalpattern, in a case that the target reference signal pattern satisfies apredefined condition, wherein the predefined condition is a conditionthat reference signal patterns other than the default reference signalpattern is used; or the predefined condition is a condition that areference signal pattern different from the reference signal patternindicated by the previous piece of reference signal indicationinformation is used; a transmission module 350, configured to transmitthe reference signal indication information to the terminal device.

The transmission module 350 specifically includes: a transmission unit351, configured to transmit the reference signal indication informationto the terminal device by incorporating the reference signal indicationinformation in the high-layer RRC signaling, the MAC CE or thephysical-layer Downlink Control Indicator (DCI) information.

Specifically, the reference signal indication information includes Nbits, wherein 2^(N) is smaller than or equal to the number of allreference signal patterns, and N is a positive integer.

A first value represented by the N bits is used for indicating that thetarget reference signal pattern is a K-th reference signal pattern usedin previous M transmission occasions, wherein the K is smaller than orequal to 2^(N); a second value represented by the N bits is used forindicating the target reference signal pattern is not any of referencesignal patterns used in the previous M transmission occasions.

The target reference signal pattern may be at least one of aDemodulation Reference Signal Pattern (DMRS pattern), aChannel-State-Information Reference Signal pattern (CSI-RS pattern), aPhase Tracking Reference Signal pattern (PTRS pattern), or a SoundingReference Signal pattern (SRS pattern).

It should be noted that the reference signal indication method in theembodiments of the present disclosure is a method corresponding to thenetwork device, and all implementations of the method and technicaleffects of the implementations are all applicable to the embodiment ofthe network device. The network device in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure does not transmit reference signal indication information incase of using the default reference signal pattern or using the samereference signal pattern as that used in the previous transmissionoccasions in the later transmission occasions, so that transmissiontimes of system information is reduced under a premise that a referencesignal pattern is indicated accurately, thereby reducing a bit overheadfor the system information and increasing the service transmission rate.

In order to implement the above technical purpose in a better way, asshown in FIG. 3, some embodiments of the present disclosure furtherprovide a network device. The network device includes a processor 500, astorage 520 connected to the processor 500 through a bus interface, anda transceiver 510 connected to the processor 500 through the businterface. The storage 520 is used to store programs and data used whenthe processor executes operations; the transceiver 510 transmits datainformation or pilots, and receives a uplink control channel. When theprocessor 500 invokes and executes the programs and the data stored inthe storage 520, the processor 500 is specifically used to performfollowing functions: configure a target reference signal pattern to beused in later transmission occasions for the terminal; in a case thatthe target reference signal pattern is the default reference signalpattern, not transmit reference signal indication information to theterminal device; or in a case that the target reference signal patternis the same as a reference signal pattern indicated by a previous pieceof reference signal indication information, not transmit the referencesignal indication information to the terminal device. The targetreference signal pattern is a reference signal pattern selected from aplurality of predefined reference signal patterns; the transceiver 510is configured to transmit and receive data under a control of theprocessor 500, and is specifically configured to transmit the referencesignal indication information to the terminal device.

In FIG. 5, the bus interface may include any number of buses and bridgesconnected together. Specifically, a plurality of processors such as theprocessor 500 and a plurality of storages such as the storage 520 areconnected together. The bus interface may also cause any other circuitsuch as a peripheral circuit, a voltage regulator and a power managementcircuit to be connected together. The circuits are known in the art, andthus detailed descriptions thereof are not further provided herein. Thebus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 510 may include aplurality of elements such as receivers, transmitters, and units forcommunicating with other devices through a transmission medium. Theprocessor 500 takes charge of managing the bus interface and generalprocessings. The storage 520 may store data used by the processor 500when the processor 500 performs operations.

The processor 500 is further configured to: in a case that the targetreference signal pattern satisfies a predefined condition, determine thereference signal indication information used for indicating the targetreference signal pattern; and control the transceiver 510 to transmitthe reference signal indication information to the terminal device. Thepredefined condition is a condition that reference signal patterns otherthan the default reference signal pattern are used; or is a conditionthat a reference signal pattern different from the reference signalpattern indicated by the previous piece of reference signal indicationinformation is used.

Specifically, the transceiver 510 is further configured to transmit thereference signal indication information to the terminal device byincorporating the reference signal indication information in thehigh-layer RRC signaling, the MAC CE or the physical-layer DownlinkControl Indicator (DCI) information.

Specifically, the reference signal indication information includes Nbits, wherein 2^(N) is smaller than or equal to the number of allreference signal patterns, and N is a positive integer.

A first value represented by the N bits is used for indicating that thetarget reference signal pattern is a K-th reference signal pattern usedin previous M transmission occasions, wherein the K is smaller than orequal to 2^(N); a second value represented by the N bits is used forindicating that the target reference signal pattern is not any ofreference signal patterns used in the previous M transmission occasions.

Further, the target reference signal pattern may be at least one of aDemodulation Reference Signal Pattern (DMRS pattern), aChannel-State-Information Reference Signal pattern (CSI-RS pattern), aPhase Tracking Reference Signal pattern (PTRS pattern), or a SoundingReference Signal pattern (SRS pattern).

The network device in the embodiments of the present disclosure does nottransmit the reference signal indication information to the terminaldevice in a case that the terminal device uses the default referencesignal pattern or uses the same reference signal pattern as that used inthe previous transmission occasions in the later transmission occasions,so that transmission times of system information are reduced under apremise that a reference signal pattern is indicated accurately, therebyreducing a bit overhead for the system information and increasing aservice transmission rate.

The reference signal indication method of the present disclosure isintroduced above from a perspective of the network device through someembodiments. The reference signal indication method at a terminal deviceside is further described hereinafter in combination the accompanyingdrawings and embodiments of the present disclosure.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the reference signal indication methodprovided in some embodiments of the present disclosure specificallyincludes following steps 61-63.

Step 61: receiving reference signal indication information transmittedby a network device.

The reference signal indication information is used to indicate a targetreference signal pattern to be used in later transmission occasions.

In the forthcoming fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication system, inorder to satisfy scene requirements such as different numericalconfigurations and dynamically-changed reference signal functions,reference signal patterns may be changed dynamically. Thus, in a scenehaving the same number of flows and the same beamforming, differentreference signal patterns may also be designed. The network device needsto configure that different pieces of reference signal indicationinformation corresponds to different reference signal patterns; ordifferent dynamic changes of the reference signal patterns correspond todifferent pieces of reference signal indication information. The targetreference signal pattern is a reference signal pattern selected frommultiple predefined reference signal patterns.

Step 62: in a case that the reference signal indication information isnot received, determining the target reference signal pattern to be adefault reference signal pattern, and transmitting correspondingreference signals in transmission resources corresponding to the defaultreference signal pattern.

In order to reduce transmission times of the reference signal indicationinformation, the network device does not transmit the reference signalindication information to the terminal device in case of using thedefault reference signal pattern. Thus, in a case that the referencesignal indication information is not received by the terminal device,the terminal device determines that the network device uses the defaultreference signal pattern, and the terminal device transmitscorresponding reference signals in transmission resources correspondingto the default reference signal pattern.

Step 63: in a case that the reference signal indication information isnot received, determining the target reference signal pattern to be areference signal pattern indicated by a previous piece of referencesignal indication information received by the terminal device, andtransmitting corresponding reference signals in transmission resourcescorresponding to the reference signal pattern indicated by the previouspiece of reference signal indication information received by theterminal device.

In order to reduce transmission times of the reference signal indicationinformation, the network device does not transmit the reference signalindication information to the terminal device in a case that the DMRSpattern is not changed. Thus, in a case that the reference signalindication information is not received by the terminal device, theterminal device determines that the network device uses the referencesignal pattern indicated by the previous piece of reference signalindication information received by the terminal device, andcorresponding reference signals are transmitted in transmissionresources corresponding to the reference signal pattern indicated by theprevious piece of reference signal indication information.

Further, the target reference signal pattern may be a DemodulationReference Signal Pattern (DMRS pattern), a Channel-State-InformationReference Signal pattern (CSI-RS pattern), a Phase Tracking ReferenceSignal pattern (PTRS pattern), or a Sounding Reference Signal pattern(SRS pattern). The downlink reference signal patterns include the DMRSpattern, the CSI-RS pattern and the PTRS pattern; the uplink referencesignal pattern includes the DMRS pattern, the SRS pattern and the PTRSpattern. The embodiment is illustrated by way of the DMRS pattern. Afterthe terminal device receives the reference signal indicationinformation, the terminal device analyzes the reference signalindication information, and obtains a DMRS pattern to be used, whereindifferent DMRS patterns are mapped to different transmission resources.After the terminal device obtains the DMRS pattern to be used,corresponding reference signals are transmitted through correspondingtransmission resources. The transmission above includes downlinktransmission and uplink transmission. Specifically, in a case that thereference signal pattern is the downlink reference signal pattern, thenetwork device transmits downlink reference signals by usingtransmission resources corresponding to the downlink reference signalpattern; in a case that the reference signal pattern is the uplinkreference signal pattern, the terminal device transmits the uplinkreference signals by using transmission resources corresponding to theuplink reference signal pattern.

The network device in the embodiments of the present disclosure does nottransmit the reference signal indication information in case of usingthe default reference signal pattern or using the same reference signalpattern as that used in the previous transmission occasions in the latertransmission occasions; in a case that the terminal device fails toreceive the reference signal indication information, the terminal devicedetermines that the default reference signal pattern or the referencesignal pattern used in the previous transmission occasions is to beused, and thus the bit overhead of the system information is reduced anda service transmission rate is increased under a premise that thereference signal pattern is accurately indicated.

A brief introduction is made to the reference signal indication methodof the present disclosure through the above embodiments. The referencesignal indication is further described hereinafter in combinationaccompanying drawings and specific application scenarios.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, the reference signal indication methodprovided in some embodiments of the present disclosure specificallyincludes following steps 71-76.

Step 71: receiving a high-layer RRC signaling, a MAC CE or aphysical-layer Downlink Control Indicator (DCI) information transmittedby a network device.

A change of DMRS patterns may be informed to the terminal device throughthe high-layer RRC signaling, the MAC CE and/or the physical-layer DCIinformation by the network device, i.e. M bits or N bits are added orspecified in the high-layer RRC signaling, the MAC CE or thephysical-layer DCI information to indicate the DMRS pattern to be used.

Step 72: analyzing the high-layer RRC signaling, the MAC CE or thephysical-layer DCI information, to obtain the reference signalindication information indicating the target reference signal pattern tobe used in later transmission occasions.

The terminal device receives and analyzes the high-layer RRC signaling,the MAC CE or the physical-layer DCI information to obtain the added orthe specified N bits, and to obtain the DMRS pattern to be used.

Step 73: in a case that the reference signal indication information isnot received, determining the target reference signal pattern to be adefault reference signal pattern, and transmitting correspondingreference signals in transmission resources corresponding to the defaultreference signal pattern.

In order to reduce transmission times of the reference signal indicationinformation, the network device does not transmit the reference signalindication information to the terminal device in case of using thedefault reference signal pattern. Thus, in a case that the referencesignal indication information is not received by the terminal device,the terminal device determines that the network device uses the defaultreference signal pattern, and transmits corresponding reference signalsin transmission resources corresponding to the default reference signalpattern.

Step 74: in a case that the reference signal indication information isnot received, determining the target reference signal pattern to be areference signal pattern indicated by a previous piece of referencesignal indication information received by the terminal device, andtransmitting corresponding reference signals in transmission resourcescorresponding to the reference signal pattern indicated by the previouspiece of reference signal indication information received by theterminal device.

Further, in order to reduce the transmission times of the referencesignal indication information, the network device does not transmit thereference signal indication information to the terminal device in a casethat the DMRS pattern is not changed. Thus, in a case that the referencesignal indication information is not received by the terminal device,the terminal device determines that the network device transmitscorresponding reference signals in transmission resources correspondingto the reference signal pattern indicated by the previous piece ofreference signal indication information received by the terminal device.

Step 75: after the reference signal indication information is received,determining the target reference signal pattern based on the receivedreference signal indication information.

After the terminal device receives the reference signal indicationinformation, the terminal device analyzes the reference signalindication information to obtain the DMRS pattern to be used.Specifically, the step includes analyzing the reference signalindication information to obtain N bits, wherein 2^(N) is smaller thanor equal to the number of all reference signal patterns, N is a positiveinteger; in a case that a value represented by the N bits is the firstvalue, determining that the target reference signal pattern is a K-threference signal pattern used in previous M transmission occasions,wherein the K is smaller than or equal to 2^(N); in a case that thevalue represented by the N bits is the second value, determining thatthe target reference signal pattern is not any of reference signalpatterns used in the previous M transmission occasions.

Step 76: transmitting corresponding reference signals in transmissionresources corresponding to the target reference signal pattern.

Different DMRS patterns are mapped to different transmission resources.After the terminal device obtains the DMRS pattern to be used,corresponding reference signals are transmitted through correspondingtransmission resources.

The network device in the embodiments of the present disclosure does nottransmit the reference signal indication information in case of usingthe default reference signal pattern or using the same reference signalpattern as that used in the previous transmission occasions in the latertransmission occasions; in a case that the terminal device fails toreceive the reference signal indication information, the terminal devicedetermines that the default reference signal pattern or the referencesignal pattern used in the previous transmission occasions is to beused, and thus the bit overhead of the system information is reduced andthe service transmission rate is increased. Further, the terminal devicereceives and analyzes the reference signal indication informationtransmitted by the network device and used to indicate the referencesignal pattern to be used in the later transmission occasions, so thatthe terminal device obtains the reference signal pattern to be used inthe later transmission occasions, thus the dynamic change of thereference signal patterns may be obtained accurately and thereforechannel detection and channel measurement may be performed accuratelyand a service transmission performance may be ensured.

The reference signal indication method of the present disclosure isintroduced above based on different scenarios through some embodiments.A terminal device corresponding to the reference signal indicationmethod is further described hereinafter in combination the accompanyingdrawings.

As shown in FIG. 8, the terminal device 800 provided in the embodimentsof the present disclosure may implement details in the embodiments ofthe above reference signal indication method applied to the terminaldevice and achieve same technical effects, the details include:receiving the reference signal indication information transmitted by thenetwork device; in a case that the reference signal indicationinformation is not received, determining the target reference signalpattern to be the default reference signal pattern, and transmittingcorresponding reference signals in transmission resources correspondingto the default reference signal pattern; or in a case that the referencesignal indication information is not received, determining the targetreference signal pattern to be a reference signal pattern indicated bythe previous piece of reference signal indication information receivedby the terminal device, and transmitting corresponding reference signalsin transmission resources corresponding to the reference signal patternindicated by the previous piece of reference signal indicationinformation received by the terminal device. The reference signalindication information is used to indicate the target reference signalpattern to be used in later transmission occasions, the target referencesignal pattern is one selected from multiple predefined reference signalpatterns. The terminal device 800 includes following modules: areception module 810, configured to receive the reference signalindication information transmitted by the network device, wherein thereference signal indication information is used to indicate a targetreference signal pattern to be used in later transmission occasions, andthe target reference signal pattern is a reference signal patternselected from multiple predefined reference signal patterns; a thirdprocessing module 820, configured to, in a case that the referencesignal indication information is not received, determine the targetreference signal pattern to be the default reference signal pattern, andtransmit corresponding reference signals in transmission resourcescorresponding to the default reference signal pattern; or a fourthprocessing module 830, configured to, in a case that the referencesignal indication information is not received, determine the targetreference signal pattern to be a reference signal pattern indicated by aprevious piece of reference signal indication information received bythe terminal device, and transmit corresponding reference signals intransmission resources corresponding to the reference signal patternindicated by the previous piece of reference signal indicationinformation received by the terminal device.

As shown in FIG. 9, the terminal device 800 further includes: a seconddetermination module 840, configured to, after receiving the referencesignal indication information, determine the target reference signalpattern according to the received reference signal indicationinformation; a transmission module 850, configured to transmitcorresponding reference signals in transmission resources correspondingto the target reference signal pattern.

Specifically, the second determination module 840 includes: a firstanalysis unit 841, configured to analyze the reference signal indicationinformation to obtain N bits, wherein 2^(N) is smaller than or equal tothe number of all reference signal patterns, N is a positive integer; afirst determination unit 842, configured to, in a case that a valuerepresented by the N bits is the first value, determine that the targetreference signal pattern is a K-th reference signal pattern used inprevious M transmission occasions, wherein the K is smaller than orequal to 2^(N); a second determination unit 843, configured to, in acase that the value represented by the N bits is the second value,determine that the target reference signal pattern is not any ofreference signal patterns used in the previous M transmission occasions.

The reception module 810 includes a reception unit 811, configured toreceive a high-layer RRC signaling, a MAC CE or physical-layer DownlinkControl Indicator (DCI) information transmitted by the network device; asecond analysis unit 812, configured to analyze the high-layer RRCsignaling, the MAC CE or the physical-layer DCI information, to obtainthe reference signal indication information indicating the targetreference signal pattern to be used in the later transmission occasions.

It should be noted that the terminal device in the embodiments of thepresent disclosure is a terminal device corresponding to the referencesignal indication method applied to the terminal device and allimplementations and technical effects of the method are all applicableto the embodiment of the terminal device. The network device in theembodiments of the present disclosure does not transmit the referencesignal indication information in case of using the default referencesignal pattern or using the same reference signal pattern as that usedin the previous transmission occasions in the later transmissionoccasions; in a case that the terminal device fails to receive thereference signal indication information, the terminal device determinesthat the default reference signal pattern or the reference signalpattern used in the previous transmission occasions is to be used, andthus the bit overhead of the system information is reduced and a servicetransmission rate is increased under a premise that the reference signalpattern is accurately indicated.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a terminal device 1000 in the embodimentsof the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10, the terminal deviceincludes at least one processor 1001, a storage 1002, and a userinterface 1003. Various components of the terminal device 1000 areconnected through a bus system 1004. It may be understood that the bussystem 1004 is used to implement communication among the components. Thebus system 1004 includes a data bus, a power bus, a control bus, and astatus signal bus. However, for sake of clear illustration, all buses inFIG. 10 are marked as the bus system 1004.

The user interface 1003 may include a display, or a pointing device(such as a touch panel or a touch screen).

It may be understood that the storage 1002 in the embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be a volatile storage or a non-volatile storage,or may include both a volatile storage and a non-volatile storage. Thenon-volatile storage may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM(PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically EPROM (EEPROM), or aflash memory. The volatile memory may be a Random Access Memory (RAM)which is used as an external cache. By way of example, not limitedillustration, many forms of RAM may be used, such as a Static RAM(SRAM), a Dynamic RAM (DRAM), a Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), a Double DataRate SDRAM (DDRSDRAM), an Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), a Sync link DRAM,SLDRAM), and a Direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM).

The storage 1002 in the device and the method described in the presentdisclosure includes, but is not limited to, these or any other suitabletypes of storages.

In some embodiments, the storage 1002 stores following elements:executable modules or data structure, or subsets thereof, or expandedsets thereof: an operation system 10021 and application programs 10022.

The operation system 10021 includes various system programs, such as aframe layer, a core library layer, a driver layer, and the like,configured for implementing various basic services and processinghardware-based tasks. The application programs 10022 include variousapplication programs, such as a Media Player, a Browser, configured forimplement various application functions. Programs for implementing themethod of the embodiments of the present disclosure may be included inthe application programs 10022.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, programs or instructionsstored in the storage 1002 and being invoked may be programs orinstructions stored in the application programs 10022. The processor1001 is configured to receive the reference signal indicationinformation transmitted by the network device; in a case that thereference signal indication information is not received, determine thetarget reference signal pattern to be a default reference signalpattern, and transmit corresponding reference signals in transmissionresources corresponding to the default reference signal pattern; or in acase that the reference signal indication information is not received,determine the target reference signal pattern to be a reference signalpattern indicated by a previous piece of reference signal indicationinformation received by the terminal, and transmit correspondingreference signals in transmission resources corresponding to thereference signal pattern indicated by the previous piece of referencesignal indication information received by the terminal; wherein thereference signal indication information is used to indicate the targetreference signal pattern to be used in later transmission occasions, andthe target reference signal pattern is one selected from multiplepredefined reference signal patterns.

The method disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure may beapplied in the processor 1001, or be implemented by the processor 1001.The processor 1001 may be an integrated-circuit chip provided with asignal processing function. In the implementation, the steps of themethod may be implemented by integrated circuits in the processor 1001or implemented by instructions in a form of software. The processor 1001may be a general processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field ProgrammableGate Array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gatesor transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components. The method,the steps and the logic blocks in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be implemented or executed by the processor. The generalprocessor may be a microprocessor or may be any general processor. Thesteps of the method disclosed by the embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be embodied directly as hardware decoding processor, orimplemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in thedecoding processor. Software modules may be located in known storagemediums in the art such as a random access memory, a flash memory, aread only memory, a programmable read only memory or an electricallyerasable and programmable memory and register. The storage medium is inthe storage 1002, and the processor 1001 reads the information in thestorage 1002 and completes the steps in the above method by combiningthe information with hardware in the processor 2401.

It may be understood that the embodiments of the present disclosure maybe implemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcodes,or a combination thereof. In case of implementation through hardware,the processing units may be implemented in one or more ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), aDSP Device (DSPD), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), a FieldProgrammable Gate Array (FPGA), a general processor, a controller, amicro controller, a microprocessor, other electronic units capable ofperforming the function of the present disclosure, or a combination ofthe above.

In case of implementation through software, modules (such as processors,functions) capable of performing the functions of the present disclosuremay be used to implement the techniques in the present disclosure.Software codes may be stored in the storage and executed by theprocessor. The storage may be implemented in a processor or implementedoutside of the processor.

Specifically, the processor is further configured to: after thereference signal indication information is received, determine thetarget reference signal pattern based on the received reference signalindication information; transmit corresponding reference signals intransmission resources corresponding to the target reference signalpattern.

Specifically, the processor 1001 is further configured to analyze thereference signal indication information to obtain N bits, wherein 2^(N)is smaller than or equal to the number of all reference signal patterns,N is a positive integer; in a case that a value represented by the Nbits is the first value, determine that the target reference signalpattern is a K-th reference signal pattern used in previous Mtransmission occasions, wherein the K is smaller than or equal to 2^(N);in a case that the value represented by the N bits is the second value,determine that the target reference signal pattern is not any ofreference signal patterns used in the previous M transmission occasions.

Specifically, the processor 1001 is further configured to: receive thehigh-layer RRC signaling, the MAC CE or the physical-layer DCIinformation transmitted by the network device; analyze the high-layerRRC signaling, the MAC CE or the physical-layer DCI information, toobtain the reference signal indication information indicating the targetreference signal pattern to be used in the later transmission occasions.

The network device in the embodiments of the present disclosure does nottransmit the reference signal indication information in case of usingthe default reference signal pattern or using the same reference signalpattern as that used in the previous transmission occasions in the latertransmission occasions; in a case that the terminal device fails toreceive the reference signal indication information, the terminal devicedetermines that the default reference signal pattern or the referencesignal pattern used in the previous transmission occasions is to beused, and thus the bit overhead of the system information is reduced andthe service transmission rate is increased under a premise that thereference signal pattern is accurately indicated.

FIG. 11 is a structural schematic diagram of the terminal deviceprovided in some other embodiments of the present disclosure.Specifically, the terminal device 1100 in FIG. 11 may be a mobile phone,a tablet, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or an on-board computer.

The terminal device 1100 in FIG. 11 includes a power source 1110, astorage 1120, an input unit 1130, a display unit 1140, a processor 1150,a Wireless Fidelity (WIFI) module 1160, an audio circuit 1170, and aRadio Frequency (RF) circuit 1180.

The input unit 1130 may be configured to receive information inputted bya user, and generate signal inputs related with user settings andfunctional control of the terminal device 1100. Specifically, in theembodiments of the present disclosure, the input unit 1130 may include atouch panel 1131. The touch panel 1131, also called a touch screen, maycollect touch operations made by a user (such as a user uses a finger, astylus or any other suitable articles or attachments to touch the touchpanel 1131) on the touch panel 1131 or near the touch panel 1131, anddrive a corresponding connected device according to predeterminedprograms. Optionally, the touch panel 1131 may include a touch detectiondevice and a touch controller. The touch detection device detects atouch position of a user and detects a signal from a touch operation,and transmits the signal to the touch controller; the touch controllerreceives touch information from the touch detection device, andtransforms the touch information into touch position coordinates, andtransmits the touch position coordinates to the processor 1150, andreceives a command from the processor 1150 and executes the command. Inaddition, the touch panel 1131 may also be implemented in various typessuch as a resistive type, a capacitive type, an infrared ray type or asurface acoustic wave type. Beside the touch panel 1131, the input unit1130 may further include other input devices 1132. The other inputdevices 1132 may include, but are not limited to, one or more of aphysical keyboard, a functional key (such as a volume control key, aswitch button, or the like), a track ball, a mouse, an operation stick,or the like.

The display unit 1140 may be used to display information inputted from auser or information provided to the user, and various menu interfaces ofthe terminal device. The display unit 1140 may include a display panel1141. Optionally, the display panel 1141 may be configured by using aLiquid Crystal Display (LCD) or an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED).

It should be noted that, the touch panel 1131 may cover the displaypanel 1141, and form a touch display screen together with the displaypanel 1141. When the touch display screen detects the touch operation onor near the touch display screen, the touch display screen transmits thetouch operation to the processor 1150 to determine a type of a touchevent, and thereby the processor 1150 provides a visual output on thetouch display screen based on the type of the touch event.

The touch display screen includes an application interface displayregion and a common widget display region. An arrangement of theapplication interface display region and the common widget displayregion is not limited, and may be an arrangement capable ofdistinguishing the two display regions, such as an up-down arrangement,a left-right arrangement, or the like. The application interface displayregion may be used to display interfaces of applications. Each of theinterfaces may include desktop elements such as an icon of at least oneapplication and/or a widget desktop control. The application interfacedisplay region may also be an empty interface not containing contents.The common widget display region is used to display widgets usedfrequently, such as application icons including setting button,interface numbers, scroll bars, a phonebook icon, or the like.

The processor 1150 is a control center of the terminal device, and isconnected to various parts of the mobile terminal through variousinterfaces and lines. Through executing or performing software programsand/or modules in the first storage 1121 and invoking data stored in thesecond storage 1122, the processor executes various functions andprocesses data for the terminal device, and thereby monitorscomprehensively events of the terminal device. Optionally, the processor1150 may include one or more processing units.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, through invoking programsand/or modules stored in the first storage 1121 and/or data stored inthe second storage 1122, the processor 1150 is configured to: receivethe reference signal indication information transmitted by the networkdevice; in a case that the reference signal indication information isnot received, determine the target reference signal pattern to be adefault reference signal pattern, and transmit corresponding referencesignals in transmission resources corresponding to the default referencesignal pattern; or in a case that the reference signal indicationinformation is not received, determine the target reference signalpattern to be a reference signal pattern indicated by a previous pieceof reference signal indication information received by the terminaldevice, and transmit corresponding reference signals in transmissionresources corresponding to the reference signal pattern indicated by theprevious piece of reference signal indication information received bythe terminal device; wherein the reference signal indication informationis used to indicate the target reference signal pattern to be used inlater transmission occasions, and the target reference signal pattern isone selected from multiple predefined reference signal patterns.

Specifically, the processor 1150 is further configured to: after thereference signal indication information is received, determine thetarget reference signal pattern based on the received reference signalindication information; transmit corresponding reference signals intransmission resources corresponding to the target reference signalpattern.

Specifically, the processor 1150 is further configured to analyze thereference signal indication information to obtain N bits, wherein 2^(N)is smaller than or equal to the number of all reference signal patterns,N is a positive integer; in a case that a value represented by the Nbits is the first value, determine that the target reference signalpattern is a K-th reference signal pattern used in previous Mtransmission occasions, wherein the K is smaller than or equal to 2^(N);in a case that the value represented by the N bits is the second value,determine that the target reference signal pattern is not any ofreference signal patterns used in the previous M transmission occasions.

Specifically, the processor 1150 is further configured to: receive thehigh-layer RRC signaling, the MAC CE or the physical-layer DCIinformation transmitted by the network device; analyze the high-layerRRC signaling, the MAC CE or the physical-layer DCI information, toobtain the reference signal indication information indicating the targetreference signal pattern to be used in the later transmission occasions.

The network device in the embodiments of the present disclosure does nottransmit the reference signal indication information in case of usingthe default reference signal pattern or using the same reference signalpattern as that used in the previous transmission occasions in the latertransmission occasions; in a case that the terminal device fails toreceive the reference signal indication information, the terminal devicedetermines that the default reference signal pattern or the referencesignal pattern used in the previous transmission occasions is to beused, and thus the bit overhead of the system information is reduced andthe service transmission rate is increased under a premise that thereference signal pattern is accurately indicated.

It may be understood by one of ordinary skills in the art, modules,algorithms, or steps described in the embodiments of present disclosuremay be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software or acombination of the computer software and the electronic hardware.Whether the implementation is through the electronic hardware or throughthe computer software is determined by a specific application scenarioand design constraints of technical solutions. Those skilled in the artmay use different methods to implement the described modules or stepsaccording to a specific application scenario, and such implementationdoes not go beyond the scope of the present disclosure.

One of ordinary skills in the art may clearly understand that, for sakeof easy and brief description, a specific operation flow in theabove-identified system, device and units may be obtained by referringto corresponding processes in the above process embodiments, and willnot be repeated.

It should be understood that, in the several embodiments provided in thepresent disclosure, the disclosed device and method can be implementedin other ways. The apparatus embodiments described above are onlyillustrative. For example, a division of a unit may be only onelogically functional division. There may be other divisions in actualimplementations, e.g., multiple units and components can be combined orintegrated in another system, or some features may be omitted or notexecuted. Additionally, couplings, or direct couplings, or communicationconnections between displayed or discussed components may be via someinterfaces, indirect couplings or communication connections betweendevices or units, and may be electrical, mechanical or other forms ofconnections.

Modules or submodules described as separated parts may be integral orphysically separated; parts displayed as modules may be or may not bephysical units, may be located in the same place or be dispersed atmultiple network units. Some or all of the modules described above maybe used to implement the technical solution of the present disclosureaccording to actual requirements.

The functional units described in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be integrated in one processing unit or may be separatedphysically, or two or more of the units may be integrated in one unit.

The above functions of the present disclosure may be stored in acomputer readable storage medium if they are implemented in forms ofsoftware functional modules or are sold or used as separate products.Based on such understandings, essentials of technical solutions of theembodiments of the present disclosure or parts that the presentdisclosure contributes to the relevant art, or a part of the technicalsolution of the present disclosure may be embodied in computer softwareproducts. The computer software products are stored in a storage mediumincluding instructions for causing a computing device (which may be apersonal computer, a server, a network device or the like) to performsome or parts of the method of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The above storage medium may include various medium capableof storing programs and codes such as a flash disk, a removable storagedevice, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk or a compact disk.

It is further pointed out that modules or steps in the method or devicein the present disclosure may be decomposed and/or recombined. Suchdecomposition and/or recombination also belong to equivalent technicalsolutions of the present disclosure. The steps in the above may beperformed in the described sequence, but are not necessarily describedin a chronological sequence. Some steps may be performed independentlyor concurrently. It should be understood by one skilled in the art thatall or any of steps or components of the method and device in thepresent disclosure may be implemented in any computing device (includinga processor, a storage, or the like) or in any network includingcomputing devices, or implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or acombination thereof, after one skilled in the art reads the presentdisclosure and uses his basic programming skills.

Therefore, the present disclosure may be implemented by a program or aset of programs executed on any computing device. The computing devicemay be a general device known in the art. Therefore, an objective of thepresent disclosure may also be implemented by a program productincluding programs and codes for implementing the method or the devicedescribed above. That is, the program product also forms a part of thepresent disclosure, and a storage medium storing the program productalso forms a part of the present disclosure. Obviously, the storagemedium may be any storage medium known in the art or future storagemedium to be developed. It is further pointed out that modules or stepsin the method and device in the present disclosure may be decomposedand/or recombined. Such decomposition and/or recombination also shouldbe viewed as equivalent technical solutions of the present disclosure.The steps in the above may be performed in the described sequencenaturally, and are not necessarily performed in a chronologicalsequence. Some of the steps may be performed simultaneously orindependently.

The above described embodiments of the present disclosure are optionalembodiments. It should be noted that numerous modifications andembellishments may be made by one of ordinary skills in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit of the present disclosure, and suchmodifications and embellishments also fall within the scope of thepresent disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A reference signal indication method, applied toa network device side and comprising: configuring a target referencesignal pattern to be used for a terminal device in later transmissionoccasions, wherein the target reference signal pattern is a referencesignal pattern selected from multiple predefined reference signalpatterns; and not transmitting reference signal indication informationto the terminal device, in a case that the target reference signalpattern is a default reference signal pattern; or not transmitting thereference signal indication information to the terminal device, in acase that the target reference signal pattern is same as a referencesignal pattern indicated by a previous piece of reference signalindication information.
 2. The reference signal indication methodaccording to claim 1, wherein after the configuring the target referencesignal pattern to be used for the terminal device in the latertransmission occasions, the method further comprises: in a case that thetarget reference signal pattern satisfies a predefined condition,determining the reference signal indication information used forindicating the target reference signal pattern, wherein, the predefinedcondition is a condition that reference signal patterns other than thedefault reference signal pattern is to be used, or the predefinedcondition is a condition that a reference signal pattern different froma reference signal pattern indicated by the previous piece of referencesignal indication information is to be used; transmitting the referencesignal indication information to the terminal device.
 3. The referencesignal indication method according to claim 2, wherein the transmittingthe reference signal indication information to the terminal device,comprises: transmitting the reference signal indication information tothe terminal device by incorporating the reference signal indicationinformation in a high-layer Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, aMedium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) or physical-layerDownlink Control Indicator (DCI) information.
 4. The reference signalindication method according to claim 2, wherein, the reference signalindication information comprises N bits, 2^(N) is smaller than or equalto the number of all reference signal patterns, and N is a positiveinteger.
 5. The reference signal indication method according to claim 4,wherein a first value represented by the N bits is used for indicatingthat the target reference signal pattern is a K-th reference signalpattern used in previous M transmission occasions, K is smaller than orequal to 2^(N); a second value represented by the N bits is used forindicating that the target reference signal pattern is not any ofreference signal patterns used in the previous M transmission occasions.6. The reference signal indication method according to claim 1, wherein,the target reference signal pattern is at least one of a DemodulationReference Signal pattern, a Channel-State-Information Reference Signalpattern, a Phase Tracking Reference Signal pattern, or a SoundingReference Signal pattern.
 7. A reference signal indication method,applied to a terminal device side and comprising: receiving referencesignal indication information transmitted by a network device, wherein,the reference signal indication information is used to indicate a targetreference signal pattern to be used in later transmission occasions, andthe target reference signal pattern is a reference signal patternselected from multiple predefined reference signal patterns; and in acase that the reference signal indication information is not received,determining the target reference signal pattern to be a defaultreference signal pattern, and transmitting corresponding referencesignals in transmission resources corresponding to the default referencesignal pattern; or in a case that the reference signal indicationinformation is not received, determining the target reference signalpattern to be a reference signal pattern indicated by a previous pieceof reference signal indication information received by the terminaldevice, and transmitting corresponding reference signals in transmissionresources corresponding to the reference signal pattern indicated by theprevious piece of reference signal indication information received bythe terminal device.
 8. The reference signal indication method accordingto claim 7, wherein, after the receiving reference signal indicationinformation transmitted by the network device, the method furthercomprises: after receiving the reference signal indication information,determining the target reference signal pattern based on the receivedreference signal indication information; transmitting correspondingreference signals in transmission resources corresponding to the targetreference signal pattern.
 9. The reference signal indication methodaccording to claim 8, wherein, the determining the target referencesignal pattern based on the received reference signal indicationinformation, comprises: analyzing the reference signal indicationinformation to obtain N bits, wherein 2^(N) is smaller than or equal tothe number of all reference signal patterns, N is a positive integer; ina case that a value represented by the N bits is a first value,determining that the target reference signal pattern is a K-th referencesignal pattern used in previous M transmission occasions, wherein K issmaller than or equal to 2^(N); in a case that the value represented bythe N bits is a second value, determining that the target referencesignal pattern is not any of reference signal patterns used in theprevious M transmission occasions.
 10. The reference signal indicationmethod according to claim 7, wherein, the receiving reference signalindication information transmitted by a network device, comprises:receiving a high-layer Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, a MediumAccess Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) or physical-layer DownlinkControl Indicator (DCI) information transmitted by the network device;analyzing the high-layer RRC signaling, the MAC CE or the physical-layerDCI information, to obtain the reference signal indication informationindicating the target reference signal pattern to be used in the latertransmission occasions.
 11. A network device, comprising: aconfiguration circuit, configured to select a target reference signalpattern to be used for a terminal device in later transmissionoccasions, wherein the target reference signal pattern is a referencesignal pattern selected from multiple predefined reference signalpatterns; a first processing circuit, configured to not transmitreference signal indication information to the terminal device in a casethat the target reference signal pattern is a default reference signalpattern; or a second processing circuit, configured to not transmit thereference signal indication information to the terminal device in a casethat the target reference signal pattern is the same as a referencesignal pattern indicated by a previous piece of reference signalindication information.
 12. The network device according to claim 11,further comprising: a first determination circuit, configured todetermine the reference signal indication information used to indicatethe target reference signal pattern, in a case that the target referencesignal pattern satisfies a predefined condition, wherein the predefinedcondition is a condition that reference signal patterns other than thedefault reference signal pattern is to be used, or the predefinedcondition is a condition that a reference signal pattern different froma reference signal pattern indicated by the previous piece of referencesignal indication is to be used; a transmission circuit, configured totransmit the reference signal indication information to the terminaldevice.
 13. The network device according to claim 11, wherein, thetransmission circuit comprises: a transmission sub-circuit, configuredto transmit the reference signal indication information to the terminaldevice by incorporating the reference signal indication information in ahigh-layer Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, a Medium AccessControl (MAC) Control Element (CE) or physical-layer Downlink ControlIndicator (DCI) information.
 14. The network device according to claim11, wherein, the reference signal indication information comprises Nbits, 2^(N) is smaller than or equal to the number of all referencesignal patterns, and N is a positive integer.
 15. The network deviceaccording to claim 14, wherein, a first value represented by the N bitsis used for indicating that the target reference signal pattern is aK-th reference signal pattern used in previous M transmission occasions,K is smaller than or equal to 2^(N); a second value represented by the Nbits is used for indicating that the target reference signal pattern isnot any of reference signal patterns used in the previous M transmissionoccasions.
 16. The network device according to claim 11, wherein, thetarget reference signal pattern is at least one of a DemodulationReference Signal pattern, a Channel-State-Information Reference Signalpattern, a Phase Tracking Reference Signal pattern, or a SoundingReference Signal pattern. 17.-20. (canceled)
 21. A network device,comprising: a storage, a processor, and computer programs stored on thestorage and executable on the processor, wherein, when the processorexecutes the computer programs, the processor implements steps of thereference signal indication method according to claim
 1. 22. A terminaldevice, comprising: a storage, a processor, and computer programs storedon the storage and executable on the processor, wherein, when theprocessor executes the computer programs, the processor implements stepsof the reference signal indication method according to claim
 7. 23. Anon-volatile computer readable storage medium, comprising: computerprograms stored on the non-volatile computer readable storage medium,wherein when the computer programs are executed by a processor, theprocessor implements steps of reference signal indication methodsaccording to claim
 1. 24. A non-volatile computer readable storagemedium, comprising: computer programs stored on the non-volatilecomputer readable storage medium, wherein when the computer programs areexecuted by a processor, the processor implements steps of referencesignal indication methods according to claim 7.